■ BOXING
Former champion freed
Former WBA flyweight champion Eric Morel was released from prison on Thursday after serving time for sexually assaulting a teenage girl, and his lawyer said the boxer hopes to resume his career. Morel was sentenced to two years in prison and two years of extended supervision in 2005 after he pleaded no contest to second-degree sexual assault of a drunken 15-year-old girl in 2002. Morel was released from Fox Lake Correctional Institution and will remain on extended supervision until October 2009, said John Dipko, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections.
■ BOXING
Cuban duo deny defecting
Two Cuban boxers who went missing during the Pan American Games in Brazil say they ate and drank excessively before a weigh-in and decided to run off because of fears they were too heavy to fight. Guillermo Rigondeaux, a two-time Olympic bantamweight champion, and Erislandy Lara, a welterweight world champion, disappeared for 11 days, but were arrested in a resort city near Rio de Janeiro, where authorities say they had partied. The pair were deported to Cuba on Sunday.
■ SOCCER
Zheng returns to the Valley
China captain Zheng Zhi will return to Charlton Athletic for a second spell after signing a permanent deal with the English First Division side, Chinese media said on Thursday. Zheng was due to fly to London yesterday, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing his Chinese club Shandong Luneng. A deal between the clubs was signed after "several rounds of difficult talks," Xinhua quoted Shandong's executive general manager, Han Gongzheng, as saying. Zheng joined Charlton on a six-month loan deal in January, then returned to Shandong in June for an Asian league champions competition. The midfielder scored one goal in five games for Charlton, who were relegated from the Premier League at the end of last season.
■ SOCCER
Expats set to kick off
The fourth season of the Tavern Premier League starts tomorrow, with a record nine clubs competing to become champions of Taipei. For the first time the expat teams are joined in the competition by a local Taiwanese side, Taipei Football Club (TFC). Tomorrow's fixture are Celts FC against Da'an Mixers; reigning champions Carnegies Taipei take on Shane FC; JFC meet the Taipei Eagles; and Taipei Football Club play their first match against Taipei Black Stars FC. All the games take place at the Yingfeng Sports Park, next to Dajia Riverside Park, off Binjiang Street (迎風河濱運動場靠近濱江街, 台北).
■ BASEBALL
Clemens suspended
New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens was suspended for five games and fined an undisclosed amount on Thursday for intentionally throwing a pitch at Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Alex Rios on Tuesday. The ban, which Clemens can appeal, was scheduled to begin yesterday, when the Yankees visited the Cleveland Indians. Clemens gave up just two hits and a walk with six strikeouts before being ejected by plate umpire Angel Hernandez with a 7-0 lead in the sixth inning on Tuesday. The Yankees eventually posted a 9-2 victory. Yankees manager Joe Torre was also ejected. Torre was suspended for one game and fined an undisclosed amount following Clemens' actions.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but